Ideum breaks out 100-inch Pano Touch Table

Although the upper surface of the Ideum multitouch table we covered back in November 2009 measured 100 inches diagonally, only 86 inches were viewable. Originally a custom offering, the Pano Touch Table sports a full 100 diagonal inches of HD multitouch goodness, can accommodate up to eight simultaneous users and includes an integrated computer workstation with a Core i7 processor, dual hard drives and lockable port access ... and it's now been added to the company's main catalog.

Ideum says that the Pano is the largest production-built, integrated multitouch table in the world. Its 100-inch multitouch surface is made up of two 55-inch LED LCD HD display panels for a total display resolution of 3,840 x 1,080 pixels. The panels are topped by Sevasa HapticGlas, a 0.2-inch (5 mm) micro-etched tempered glass surface developed for Ideum that offers users a passive tactile touch experience while also reducing fingerprint marks. A solid state optical multitouch system supports over 40 simultaneous touch points and offers a touch response time of ±7 milliseconds.

The 2.5-inch (63.5 mm) thick table top rests on an integrated computer workstation that's powered by an Intel i7-3770 quad core processor running at 3.4 GHz, and supported by 8 GB of DDR3 system memory and dual 500 GB SATA II HDD storage (7200 RPM) in a RAID 1 configuration. The Pano runs on Windows 7 Pro (64-bit), but is reported to be Win 8 ready.

Custom upgrade options include up to 16 GB of RAM, a Blu-ray writer, and dual 1 TB HDDs or dual 160/300 GB SSDs. Ideum can also configure the Pano for a rack-mounted control room setup, and the aircraft-grade aluminum frame can be powder-coated in a number of color and texture options.

As with other members of the Ideum touch table family, the Pano comes with a lifetime license for its proprietary GestureWorks SDK. A new Windows 8 utility called GestureKey is also available, that can turn ordinary key commands and mouse events into touch-enabled gestures (a Windows 7 version is coming soon).

While Paul is loath to reveal his age, he will admit to cutting his IT teeth on a TRS-80 (although he won't say which version). An obsessive fascination with computer technology blossomed from hobby into career before the desire for sunnier climes saw him wave a fond farewell to his native Blighty in favor of Bordeaux, France. He's now a dedicated newshound pursuing the latest bleeding edge tech for Gizmag. All articles by Paul Ridden

As an application for possible future versions of this LCD/table interface:

I've always fascinated about the idea of having a hybrid gaming board where the surface is a touch screen interface, and you play with real game peaces.

The game peaces would each be RFID so the interface could recognise them. Anything from a game of chess, to a game of snakes and ladders to soemthing more elaborate like an old fashioned Warhammer tournament could be played on the same surface.

You can roll special dice, and the surface would recognise the number they land on.

The RFID pieces can be puck form, so you can mount them on the base of any existing playing peace, for customisation.